--houston--
Flew out to Houston on Thursday afternoon to interview for a job with ExxonMobil. Had a great trip, started with dinner at La Griglia Thursday night with the two other candidates and our hosts. Ordered seared baby snapper topped with lump crabmeat and toasted almonds...Absolutely delicious. After dinner we got dropped back off the hotel where I did some last minute research on the company (completely unnecessary) and got some more information about the process from Bill.
7 AM - We had to be checked out of the hotel by 7 am, so I went to sleep around 10:30 that night, got up at 5:30 so I had plenty of time (to stress). Breakfast at the office (pretty tasty, even though I wasn't hungry), followed by a short overview of the information technology side of ExxonMobil. Then the interviews...
8:45 AM - Supervisor Interview with Bill Schroen. Went pretty well, general behavioral type I/O psychology questions (thanks Dr. Thomas for your class, knowing all about that stuff lets me relax so much more and just answer questions. Got a little frustrated when I got asked about my website and blog about pursuing a Ph.D. I tried to explain that it was something I really wanted to do, but that I wasn't sure if I wanted to go straight to graduate school out of undergrad or not, and so I was looking for the best opportunity available. I think I still had a few cobwebs from getting up so early, so my answer probably could have been a little stronger.
9:45 AM - Technical Interview with Jonathan Phillips. Went really well, considering this was the interview I was most concerned about, just because he could ask anything at all about Computer Science, and it might either be irrelevant to normal everyday use or just something I knew but didn't know how to articulate well. Anyways, we ended up just talking about my Driver Model project and some of the programming problems we'd encountered and how we approached and solved them. As I said, went really well, he got really excited about the project and how we were handling the problems.
10:45 AM - Problem Solving Interview with Joan Huang. Three questions basically testing logic and problem solving abilities. I felt like I did really well on all of them, and she was an incredibly easy person to talk to I didn't feel nervous at all. (Also probably just wanted to get it all over with and get to lunch)
11:45 AM - Lunch was good, steak and chicken fajitas and cherry cobbler.
1:15 PM - Panel Discussion, basically talking with two guys that had been working with the company for slightly longer than our hosts. Completely candid, not part of the interview process. Good source of information outside of company platform (Although the company platform seems pretty good for the most part, the panelists really like the environment and their jobs). Kudos to ExxonMobil for picking panelists that would promote them well.
2:15 PM - Benefits Information Session and the Next Steps of the process with George Forde. Nice guy, and man do they have a nice benefits package. Also found out that I'd receive an email and phone call from the company by next Friday telling me either way if I would be receiving an offer. Let the nervous waiting begin.
3:00 PM - Said goodbye to our hosts, other candidates and Anita Wolfe. Got picked back up by the limo and went to the airport.
Once I got on the plane I fell asleep immediately, slept through takeoff and woke up just before landing in Atlanta. Drove back to Auburn and am promptly crashing in bed after writing this. Hopefully everything went as well as I feel it did and I'll hear back from ExxonMobil with a job offer next week. Goodnight.
7 AM - We had to be checked out of the hotel by 7 am, so I went to sleep around 10:30 that night, got up at 5:30 so I had plenty of time (to stress). Breakfast at the office (pretty tasty, even though I wasn't hungry), followed by a short overview of the information technology side of ExxonMobil. Then the interviews...
8:45 AM - Supervisor Interview with Bill Schroen. Went pretty well, general behavioral type I/O psychology questions (thanks Dr. Thomas for your class, knowing all about that stuff lets me relax so much more and just answer questions. Got a little frustrated when I got asked about my website and blog about pursuing a Ph.D. I tried to explain that it was something I really wanted to do, but that I wasn't sure if I wanted to go straight to graduate school out of undergrad or not, and so I was looking for the best opportunity available. I think I still had a few cobwebs from getting up so early, so my answer probably could have been a little stronger.
9:45 AM - Technical Interview with Jonathan Phillips. Went really well, considering this was the interview I was most concerned about, just because he could ask anything at all about Computer Science, and it might either be irrelevant to normal everyday use or just something I knew but didn't know how to articulate well. Anyways, we ended up just talking about my Driver Model project and some of the programming problems we'd encountered and how we approached and solved them. As I said, went really well, he got really excited about the project and how we were handling the problems.
10:45 AM - Problem Solving Interview with Joan Huang. Three questions basically testing logic and problem solving abilities. I felt like I did really well on all of them, and she was an incredibly easy person to talk to I didn't feel nervous at all. (Also probably just wanted to get it all over with and get to lunch)
11:45 AM - Lunch was good, steak and chicken fajitas and cherry cobbler.
1:15 PM - Panel Discussion, basically talking with two guys that had been working with the company for slightly longer than our hosts. Completely candid, not part of the interview process. Good source of information outside of company platform (Although the company platform seems pretty good for the most part, the panelists really like the environment and their jobs). Kudos to ExxonMobil for picking panelists that would promote them well.
2:15 PM - Benefits Information Session and the Next Steps of the process with George Forde. Nice guy, and man do they have a nice benefits package. Also found out that I'd receive an email and phone call from the company by next Friday telling me either way if I would be receiving an offer. Let the nervous waiting begin.
3:00 PM - Said goodbye to our hosts, other candidates and Anita Wolfe. Got picked back up by the limo and went to the airport.
Once I got on the plane I fell asleep immediately, slept through takeoff and woke up just before landing in Atlanta. Drove back to Auburn and am promptly crashing in bed after writing this. Hopefully everything went as well as I feel it did and I'll hear back from ExxonMobil with a job offer next week. Goodnight.